Market capitalism has just experienced an upheaval that is unprecedented. Yet, social democracy remains rather muted, weakened on the continent which saw it emerge, in the 19^th century, as a reaction to the excesses of that very same capitalism.

Shaping attractive solutions for our citizens requires, in my view, a new approach. First, on the ideological front:  by revamping the theoretical critique of market capitalism.  Then, on the strategic front:  by changing the scope of our action.

The progressives of today offer only an incomplete and superficial critique of the prevailing system.

It is incomplete because it is still excessively influenced by the economism of social democracy's founding fathers.  It rightly criticizes the inherent dysfunctions and instabilities of the capitalist model, but it neglects three essential dimensions in today's world: globalization, sustainability, and anthropology.

Globalization is more than just an expansion of the territory covered by capitalism.  Technology, its essential driving force, is thoroughly altering the traditional domination of labour by capital.  No longer is capital merely finance:  it is knowledge as well.  No longer is labour merely force:  it is also imagination.  The social fallout can no longer be handled by welfare systems relying on communities with a strong identity, whether professions, nations or classes:  we need to rethink these systems on a global scale.

The capitalist model is no longer merely socially unsustainable, or even economically unsustainable:  it is now also environmentally unsustainable.  This means that from a conceptual point of view we should be focusing our efforts on coming up with a different growth model, one that is less extravagant, less demanding of human and natural resources, a new version of "prosperity" – but a model that is also capable of offering hope to the half of humanity for whom deep physical suffering is the daily lot, and for whom zero growth is a provocation.

As for the anthropological foundations of market capitalism, they are bound to be called into question with the advent on the national or international political scene of populations whose culture is not of Western origin. Other human philosophies have emerged elsewhere, philosophies that do not rely on the capitalist anthropological code according to which man is wolf to man.

To address these three limits to the current critique of capitalism clearly implies going beyond current theory and engaging in some conceptual groundwork involving intellectuals and thinkers on a scale that far surpasses our Western think-tanks and seminars. The priorities of progressives must be shifted from the State level to the world level, and global regulation of market capitalism needs to be given the same importance as the introduction of the welfare State in the 19^th century.

These regulations must be applied first and foremost to the sectors of international life that have already been identified: macroeconomics, health, environment, human rights, social standards, trade, to name but a few.  They must urgently be extended to the financial activities sector, where the recent crisis revealed a big hole in international regulations in what was undoubtedly the most globalized sector.  And finally, they must embrace the sectors that have been left aside, such as taxation, energy or migrations.  We need to establish a collective framework of values that are currently lacking in the area of justice, fairness and profit sharing.

We need to invent and establish a balance of power in international areas that are essentially still governed by sovereign nation States, and in which the only way to ensure order by regulation is through negotiations.

This is no small task given the enormous difference between the decision-making and legitimation process at the global level and those prevailing at the domestic level to which we are accustomed.  The only way to address this problem is to imagine, and then build, new alliances with the countries that are now at the negotiating table:  China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, Egypt, and many others.

Since we can reasonably assume that the position of these new players is, or will soon be, a product of their domestic political systems, progressive political forces in all those countries, including trade unions, should unite. They should start by sharing their vision of the failings of capitalism, and then, through discussion and negotiation, adapt the critical work and the resulting progressive political agenda to this new political geography.

 Progressives in Europe must start working on the political front with the Congress Party in India, the Workers' Party in Brazil, or the Communist Party in China.

I am also aware that this project will not obviate the need to change political practices of progressives at home, to dispel the widespread view that progressives are no longer present at the workplace and in ordinary people's lives;  or that we more-or-less share the selfish and security-minded attitudes that serve merely to aggravate exclusion.

And yet, if we look at the forces that need to be united in order to build up an alternative, to carry out an in depth transformation of the now globalized market capitalism, the starting point is the fact that the task exceeds the intellectual and geographical scope to which our culture had accustomed us.  Our task is to build a new political space in a world which will have to be "de-westernized" and exposed to the projects of other peoples, other civilizations, other sensitivities.  And if it is to exist at all, that space must be open so that each one of the new forces to be mobilized has a role to play and feels as a stakeholder.

Let's remember the origins of the labour and of the socialist movements. Internationalism was higher on their agenda at that time. It has, unfortunately largely disappeared from our agenda.

Progressives should oppose globally and propose globally. The globalization of social democracy is the key to its future.